In 1917 he entered the First Higher School (now the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo). In 1921 he entered the English department of Tokyo Imperial University, transferring the following year to Japanese literature. Work published in “Shin-shicho” brought him to the notice of Kan Kikuchi and opened his way into the literary world. He published “The Izu Dancer” in 1926 and “Snow Country” in 1935, and in 1968 became the first Japanese to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. With expression of great delicacy he caught what is essential in Japanese feeling.